Safari, (n) : An expedition to observe animals in their natural habitat. This site is a 'safari' of international news, development theory, and the natural world. Written by R. Turner Shaw.

The Numbers on US Aid

The combination of United States Aid, including USAID, the State Department, and military spending, amasses to roughly 50 billion dollars. This is about 1 percent of the US federal budget, “not 25 percent, as Americans routinely tell pollsters.”

PBS analyzed the numbers for 2010 in the chart above.
For reference, on Friday NRA chief Wayne LaPierre suggested that “with all the foreign aid, with all the money in the federal budget, we can’t afford to put a police officer in every school?” Well, Foreign Policy did the math, and this would cost $8 billion annually. That’s 16 percent of the total aid budget. Consider how many lives US foreign aid saves with their food security, conflict resolution, and healthcare programs. As FP states, “to a policymaker, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense” to follow through on Mr. LaPierre’s proposal.